Five sources of inspiration when you are struggling to write your next article

Even with a great writing process, we can get stuck. But having a few great go-to sources for inspiration is an easy way to get back on the writing track.

The Sources

Here are five of my top sources of new ideas when I need some help. From these, I can always find my next article idea.

Google Alerts

Setting up Google Alerts is free and easy. You add terms to your alert list and when they show up on a page that Google has searched, you get a notification. You can even have them emailed to you on a set schedule. This is an easy way to have ideas sent directly to you.

Feedly

Feedly is another free tool. It is a news aggregator that you can customize to pull in feeds from different websites. These could even include the Google Alerts that you have set up. I have set it up to pull in new articles from a variety of sources. They range from 3 on 3 and injury prevention to marketing and search engine optimization.

Each day the latest headlines are waiting for me. I skim the ones I like and read the most interesting. And since they are all recent articles, the topics are timely and will help me find my next article subject.

Comments

If you want to see what people really think about something, find a post about it and read the comments. For whatever reason, people don’t hold anything back when they comment on articles. This is a great way to find where people’s passion lies. And an easy way to write up an article from your point of view. This is something we did with Select Basketball when the FBI / NCAA investigation came out. It was also how I came up with my article on 6 Writing Rituals.

Whether it is a blog, newspaper or social media, the comments area is pure gold for finding new ideas.

What does your writing process look like? Click here to see exactly how I do it.

Quora

This question and answer site is an interesting source of ideas. Anyone can ask questions on Quora and get answers. The basketball topic is not as popular as some of the other topics. But with some searching, you can find some questions and answers to get started.

Family Feedback

If you are getting questions from the families you already work with then you are being handed the subject of your next article. Take these questions and answer them in an article built for a bigger audience.